One of Sampson’s campaign donors is a mob associate

By Aaron Short and Bruce
Golding

At least one major contributor
doesn’t care that Brooklyn state Sen. John Sampson is running for re-election
while facing corruption charges — a former legal client with ties to the mob,
The Post has learned.

Election records show the pol’s
dwindling list of donors includes reputed Gambino crime-family associate George
Fortunato, who last month gave $10,500.

According to the Democrat’s
latest campaign filing, the Brooklyn businessman provided more than 90 percent
of the funds raised between July 15 and Aug. 4.

The next-largest contribution —
$500 — was from lobbyist Stacey Rowland, who joined Sampson on a 2011 junket to
South Korea.

Sampson described Fortunato,
72, as a “close family friend” and declined to comment further. Campaign
treasurer Bernard Alter said Sampson had solicited the contribution.

“He’s a nice guy. He likes the
senator. Thank God,” Alter said of Fortunato.

Sampson is also under
indictment in Brooklyn federal court, where he’s charged with a litany of
crimes, including allegedly embezzling $440,000.

Fortunato, of Mill Basin, has
been a Sampson supporter since at least 1999.

Sampson was his defense lawyer
after he was busted on hate-crime charges in a 2003 attack on a Chinese woman
in a Queens restaurant. Fortunato’s wife, Jackie, and a daughter, Annamarie,
were also arrested.

Charges against Annamarie were
dropped. George and Jackie pleaded guilty to assault in a deal that spared them
prison in exchange for taking racial-sensitivity and anger-management classes.

Also in 2003, Fortunato was
identified as an unindicted co-conspirator in an extortion plot that figured in
the racketeering trial of ex-Gambino boss Peter Gotti.

Law-enforcement sources said he
is considered a “dormant” Gambino associate and not under investigation.